I’ve been wanting to make a Skye guide for quite a while now, and the Vainglory Teacher event has coincided nicely with me deciding to stop being lazy and get something done. I am definitely not a fantastic player by any means, but I have invested a lot of time and effort into learning this hero and I would like to share what knowledge I have with you all. This guide will focus exclusively on CP Skye in the jungle as this is the role I am most comfortable playing Skye in, but I will touch on playing Skye the lane as well, and many of the things I say here are relevant to playing Skye on the WP path as well.

I hope this guide will help aspiring Skye players improve, and also show why I find Skye such a fun and interesting hero to play as.

“Skye is a swift sniper able to dance at the edge of fights or dive deep into the enemy backline to kill key targets. Skye’s unique strafing attacks change the complexion of fights, and her ability to chase down and catch opponents is unparalleled.”

Skye is classed as a sniper, but at her best, she plays much more like a ranged assassin, quickly jumping in and assassinating a high-priority target. She is extremely mobile, and her kit lets her reposition frequently and dodge enemy attacks, making her slippery as well as near impossible to escape. Her incredible damage output through Forward Barrage simultaneously does huge burst damage from range but also is consistently available.

However, she is not without weaknesses. Skye is very squishy, mainly relying on positioning and kiting to stay alive. Even with defense, she can still be bursted down fairly quickly. She is also a potato without a Target Lock on an enemy, since two of her abilities require Target Lock to activate, one of which (Suri Strike) makes up the bulk of her mobility and chase potential. And while she can dodge and reposition, the way her kit is designed makes it difficult to straight up run away. So if you decide to dive for the enemy carry you better be sure you get that kill.

Skye also has extremely poor damage to objectives like turrets, the gold miner, and the Kraken. Unlike some snipers like SAW and Ringo who are squishy but take Kraken fairly quickly, or some junglers like Krul who have poor objective damage but can tank Kraken longer than the post-update downtime, Skye lacks both the damage to pull of a quick Kraken capture as well as the tankiness to endure a lengthy one. You would honestly have an easier time if you were any support with a Stormguard Banner.

All of CP Skye’s damage potential is loaded onto one skill: Forward Barrage, and whether you pull off a glorious victory or get splattered across the Fold is entirely dependent on whether you are able to land it. This is especially difficult in higher tiers when opponents start to learn escape strategies other than running in a straight line.

In the end though, Skye’s strengths far outweigh her weaknesses and she is an incredibly fun and worthwhile hero to learn. She is extremely consistent, as she is strong in all phases of the game and has been viable since her release other than that one patch we don’t speak of ever. Learning Skye takes lots of practice to get a feel for how her abilities work, but the feeling of landing the entirety of a Forward Barrage and seeing the enemy carry’s health melt away is a pleasure Ringo mains can only dream of as they farm the lane to keep their CS at 12 per minute.

Before I go into specifics, here are some things you should keep in mind when playing Skye:

Skye is an offensive hero, so prioritize offense above everything else. Of course, this doesn’t mean neglecting it completely, especially if the enemy is consistently able to land hits on you. However, if you are building an Aegis and a Metal Jacket with only a Frostburn finished, you are doing it wrong. You should be able to skimp on your defense and get by on only a Reflex Block until you finish a Broken Myth if you keep good positioning and burst enemies down. Remember, enemy damage is reduced by a certain percent when you have defense, but it’s reduced by a hundred percent if they’re dead.

Don’t be afraid. Playing Skye means you will sometimes have to put yourself in risky situations. There will be times you have to poke from the back line at the enemy carry, but that’s all you’re doing, you are sacrificing your offensive capabilities in favour of safety. If you want safety, go play Celeste. At the same time though, don’t go in until you know you can secure a kill. There’s a difference between playing aggressively and having the self preservation of a soloq SAW who only watches VONC montages.

If you are in range to put a Target Lock on an enemy, do it. Skye’s offensive capabilities skyerocket when she has a target lock on an enemy, and without one you are unable to dodge or escape, leaving you a sitting duck. Without a Target Lock, you will not be able to outtrade an enemy at close range and you will certainly not be able to maneuver away when you fail to do so.

On a similar note, remember to be aware of everything near you that you can Target Lock. Jungle camps, the Kraken, minions, and turrets can also be used for a Target Lock to dance around the fight, escape, or bring you closer to a foe like a living slingshot of death where the ammo is you.

This concludes my overview of Skye. In the next few sections, I will go in-depth to explain everything you should need to know to play her.

Skye is built pretty much like you would build a mage. Most of her build variety revolves around changing up the order you build her offensive items in or swapping them out situationally.

Your build path should vary depending on the matchup. However, most viable Skye build paths follow the two rules listed below:

Broken Myth should always be built, and built either first or second.

Eve of Harvest should always be built, but never as the first item.

These rules are not entirely concrete. For example, if the enemy team is building no shield at all, you may want to build heavier into crystal by getting a Shatterglass for your second item. Or if you are having no trouble with energy or staying alive in teamfights you could swap out your Eve of Harvest. But very rarely do I see people deviate too far from the norm, especially in higher tiers.

Builds

Build Order

Start with two Crystal Bits, and buy one more Crystal Bit, an Energy Battery and boots, leaving room for Halcyon Potions. Build your Crystal Bits into a Frostburn, then start working towards a Broken Myth, building Reflex Block and Travel Boots along the way. Follow this up with an Eve of Harvest, then depending on the bigger threat on the enemy team, either turn your Reflex Block into an Aegis or build a Metal Jacket. If both the enemy team members are threats you can build towards both at the same time, but you will not have slots for potions or flares.(which I carry when there is an enemy who can go invisible and I have trust issues with my support) Build the other defensive item then turn your Travel Boots into Halcyon Chargers.

The build order is flexible. You can get armour and shield along the way or you can start building to an Aegis or Metal Jacket before building Eve if the enemy is doing overwhelming and unavoidable damage to you, but your own damage will suffer as a result.

About this build

This is the most commonly used build for Skye, and for good reason. Frostburn provides a sizeable early game power spike and the slow it gives helps tremendously when trying to land Forward Barrage. Broken Myth provides shield pierce and allows Skye to progressively ramp up to dealing insane amounts of damage the longer she fights. Eve of Harvest lets Skye lifesteal off her Forward Barrage, letting her be incredibly surviveable while she is landing her damage. With three offensive items and two defensive ones, (not counting boots) Standard Blue Skye is about as balanced between offense and defense as Skye can be.

When to use this build

Pretty much always. This build should be your go-to build when playing CP Skye. However, it is not always the best build situationally, so be ready to change things up if necessary. The descriptions for the builds below provide alternatives and advice on when they can be used.

Build Order

About this build

This build was the go to Skye build a few patches ago, but has seen a lot less use recently due to the Broken Myth stack changes. The Diet Blue Skye build changes the build order of the standard build in order to allow Skye to get her core items (Broken Myth and Eve of Harvest) quicker at the cost of a Frostburn. This lets Skye benefit from the shield pierce and stacking abilty of Broken Myth and the lifesteal of Eve of Harvest sooner. However, since Broken Myth is more expensive than Frostburn, you will take longer to hit your first item power spike. Additionally, you will not be able to benefit from the Frostburn slow meaning it will be harder to land Forward Barrage.

When to use this build

Due to the core of this build being cheaper, I tend to fall back on it when I am being starved and do not have access to a lot of gold.

Additionally, if your enemies are building heavily into shield you may want to consider running this build to have a Broken Myth sooner.

Lastly, if you feel you need the lifesteal Eve of Harvest provides as soon as possible, the Diet Blue Skye build allows you to benefit from it earlier.

Golf Oscar Hotel Alfa Mike Sierra Kilo Yankee Echo

*note: there are multiple build paths I would consider as fitting for this build. To save space I have just listed them all below instead of making a separate category for each one. They will be listed in descending order of sanity, with the most safe ones at the top.

BUILD ORDER

BUILD SAME AS STANDARD BLUE EXCEPT YOU BUILD ALL THE OFFENSE FIRST. MAYBE YOU GET BOOTS AND REFLEX BLOCK BUT THAT’S IT. OK MMMMAYYYBE SOMETIMES AEGIS AFTER SECOND ITEM IF YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO SURVIVE.

ABOUT

THIS BUILD TAKES OUT WEAK FROSTBURN TO REPLACE WITH SHATTERGLASS. WHO NEEDS MAKE ENEMY SLOW WHEN YOU CAN MAKE ENEMY DEAD??

MORE SHATTERGLASS, MORE FUN. TAKE OUT DEFENSE ITEMS TO MAKE ROOM FOR MORE SHATTERGLASS. TAKE OUT METAL JACKET FIRST TO BECAUSE AEGIS LETS YOU NOT GET STUNNED SO YOU CAN KEEP FORWARD BARRAGE. IF YOU NOT NEED REFLEX BLOCK GET SLUMBERING HUSK INSTEAD. MORE SHATTERGLASS, MORE FUN, BUT ALSO more shatterglass more die…the first and the second build are the most reasonable of the lot, and probably don’t use the last two.

WHEN TO USE

USE WHEN YOU ARE NOT SPINELESS WEAKLING WHO CANNOT EVEN CRUSH BRICK WITH ABS. IF YOU CANNOT LAND FORWARD BARRAGE WITHOUT HELPY WELPY FROM FROSTBURN DON’T EVEN THINK OF TRYING THIS BUILD YOU PLEB

BUILD GIVES LOTS OF DAMAGE. LOOOOOOTTTTSSSSSS. USE BUILD IF YOU ARE VERY AHEAD AND CAN SNOWBALL ENEMY.

YOU CAN USE FIRST BUILD (only 3 offensive items) OR SECOND BUILD (only 4) IF YOU WANT TO BE “”""“SENSIBLE”""""" AND “”""“NOT EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE”""""

BUT I SAY BUILD ALL THE SHATTERGLASSES!!!

Other Items

Defence

Defence

Aegis gives you shield and more importantly, Reflex Block. You should normally build Aegis first because it is less disruptive to your build path due to you already having a Reflex Block in your build.

Metal Jacket prevents you from being blown up by WP carries or used for Breaking Point stacks. It also provides you with a large amount of armour, letting you get killed by two Vox autoattacks instead of one. (data may not be exact)

Removing one defensive item

This lets you deal more damage at the cost of you being squishier. Normally, you should remove Metal Jacket and keep Aegis (this also applies if you are swapping in another defensive item) so you still have a Reflex Block to block CC. However, on the very small chance that the enemy team both has no CC and a terrifying WP carry, you can swap out Aegis instead. If enemies land damage on you, you will burst like a child’s balloon at the National Needlepoint Convention for Petty Assholes. As such, you should only do this if you have committed to not taking any damage from enemies by maintaining safe positioning or dodging every single skillshot.

Swapping in Slumbering Husk

Slumbering Husk is a good and cheap choice for dealing with heroes who rely mainly on burst damage, such as CP Joule, Taka, and CP Joule. However, since you will have to swap out an item to make room, you should build Slumbering Husk sparingly.

Swapping in Crucible

Crucible is a very situational pick that I usually only swap in for one hero- Ringo. Crucible lets you tank the damage and burn damage of Hellfire Brew. It also lets you block for your allies. I only use Crucible in this matchup, but you might want to consider swapping it in if the enemy team has multiple high-priority CC skills like Verse of Judgement, Forced Accord, or Blast Tremor and your team does not have enough Blocks to negate them all. Since Crucible has a Reflex Block, you can swap out Aegis but if you don’t need Metal Jacket you can also swap it out as having two Reflex Blocks isn’t a bad thing at all.

Double Aegis/ Double Metal Jacket/ Metal Jacket and Atlas Pauldron

Double CP or WP hasn’t been meta for a very long time, and is very uncommon to see, but if you find yourself in a situation where it comes up, you can build a second armour/shield item. You can also do this if one enemy carry is a massive threat and the other one is having no impact on you. Remember that if you build double Aegis the second one will be unusable as a Reflex Block; it is only to get the maximum amount of shield possible. On the armour side of things, Atlas Pauldron is generally less useful on a squishy sniper like Skye, as going close enough to land it can spell certain death, so it is better to stay out of range and attack. However, if you find yourself frequently close to the enemy ranged carry or if an autoattack reliant enemy like Krul is consistently able to jump on and stick to you, an Atlas might be worth it as landing it can cripple a ranged enemy long enough for you to kill them or inconvenience a melee enemy long enough for you to escape. And then kill them.

Boots

Boots

You pretty much have two choices here:

Halcyon Chargers

These are the most common boots for Skye. The long speed boost they provide lets Skye escape most sticky situations or chase a stubborn enemy down. Additionally, they provide energy and cooldown speed letting Skye use her abilities more and more frequently. Build these if you find yourself in prolonged fights which see you running low on energy, and if you are willing to sacrifice the more frequent speed boosts given by Journey Boots.

Journey Boots

Journey Boots provide excellent mobility with a 12 second (if in a fight) cooldown on their speed boost. While they allow Skye to be even more mobile, you should consider whether you really need them enough to justify giving up the energy and cooldown speed of Halcyon Chargers or if you are mobile enough as it is. Build Journey Boots if you are able to end fights quickly without using too much energy but have problems engaging, disengaging or chasing.

Skye’s kit is very much based on hunting down a target and killing them quickly. Below, I describe her abilities one by one, but you should have some knowledge as to how they all work as I make reference to skills outside of their respective sections due to how Skye’s abilities are all interwoven and play off one another. For the sake of anyone who has no knowledge of how they work, I will briefly describe them now, though you should read the About section for each ability if you want to know more.

Target Lock gives Skye movement speed when she attacks a target, allowing her to kite better. The enemy is also Target Locked, which lets Skye use the abilities Suri Strike and Death From Above.

Forward Barrage is Skye’s primary damage dealing ability. She fires a stream of bullets that deal large damage to anyone hit by them. It deals more damage to Target Locked enemies.

Suri Strike lets Skye dash to a target location around a Target Locked enemy, allowing her to maneuver well. It also resets part of the cooldown for Forward Barrage.

Death from Above rains down missiles that stun then slow to a target location around the enemy. Based on where she aims the ability, the missiles rain down as either a cluster or a wall.

Target Lock

About

When Skye autoattacks an enemy, that enemy is Target Locked. Skye will gain a small burst of movement speed when she Target Locks an enemy and she will continue to gain this movement speed boost every time she performs another autoattack on the enemy. Having a Target Lock provides many benefits to Skye besides this movement speed bonus. First, she can only use her B and Ult if she has a Target Lock. Additionally, her A deals more damage to a Target Locked target.

The speed boost from Target Lock is provided from the first time Skye hits an enemy. This means you can attack an enemy, move, attack a different enemy, and get the Target Lock speed boost both times. However, the speed boost is greatly reduced if Skye tries to use it to move backwards. This makes Target Lock great for moving side to side to dodge or forward to chase, but a poor tool for escaping.

How to use it

The Target Lock speed boost is significantly less important on CP Skye than on WP Skye, but it is still very helpful. When fighting, always have a Target Lock on something. (usually the enemy you want to kill) When you are not Forward Barraging, use your autoattacks to get the speed boost repeatedly and use it to weave through the battle away from danger,towards a kill, or just side to side to make yourself a more difficult target to hit with skillshots. As mentioned before, Target Lock is excellent for chasing but bad for escaping. Therefore, when trying to shake an enemy, try to move away by going sideways around them instead of backwards, or find a target behind you that you can Target Lock and move towards for the full speed bonus.

Tips

Skye’s autoattacks are quite slow, especially early game. Make sure you have completed the animation before tapping anything else to avoid cancelling your autoattack.

When trying to escape an enemy that is right next to you, consider trying to move towards them to go through them. The speed boost from Target Lock works fully when moving forward, so it can be better than trying to back away and much more unexpected. However, don’t do this if it puts you closer to the other enemies or if you could be within safe distance by going another way.

When moving through the map, continually land Target Locks on minions, jungle camps, or the gold miner/Kraken to move faster.

Target Lock grants vision on enemies for a short period of time, so if you continually autoattack an escaping enemy, they will be unable to disappear from vision by entering brush, letting you keep chasing. Additionally, if you have a target lock on a target about to enter stealth through means of an ability like Kaku, Target Lock will let you keep vision on them for a very, very brief moment so you can have an idea of where to aim Forward Barrage and de-stealth them.

Forward Barrage

About

Forward Barrage sends a continuous stream of bullets ahead of Skye in a straight line for 3 seconds. You can tap the ability again to cancel it. Skye can move while this ability is in use, but instead of moving normally she strafes, meaning she will continue face in the same direction the ability was aimed in. This means she can hit enemies with the Barrage while chasing or fleeing. Additionally, landing it on a Target Locked enemy yields bonus damage and provides a movement speed boost. Essentially, once you hit a Target Locked enemy with it, you can maneuver better and land successive hits more easily. Forward Barrage is CP Skye’s bread and butter. It has a short cooldown, long range, and massive damage. However, landing the full duration of the Barrage on enemies is often difficult especially when enemies try to move unpredictably to trick you.

How to use it

Forward Barrage is the only source of CP Skye’s damage. Fail to land it, and you are a glorified spectator. The standard procedure you should follow should be to Target Lock the enemy you want to Forward Barrage before activating the ability. This should preferably be the squishiest enemy, usually the carry, but if you are unable to get to the carry or circumstances otherwise demand it, you can go for other opponents. For example, if a melee hero tries to jump you, you can Target Lock them and backpedal away, hitting them while staying just out of their attack range.

If possible, you should land Forward Barrage somewhere near three quarters of its total length. If you are too near you risk being hit by melee autos and other short ranged attacks and abilities and your opponents can run out of the stream by running around or through you. If you are too far away your opponent will be on the edge of your screen making it difficult to keep track of them, and they can exit the stream more easily since they are near its maximum range. Of course, landing Forward Barrage at a specific range is not nearly as important as landing it at all, so you can disregard this whenever the situation calls for it.

Once you hit your target with Forward Barrage, do your very best to follow your target and match their movements to keep them in the stream. Remember that Forward Barrage can go through walls so you can duck behind walls for cover while still continuing to land the ability. Most enemies will try to exit Forward Barrage’s hitbox by running out of the side of the stream, so keep this in mind when you are trying to predict where they will go. Some enemies will attempt to feint going in one direction before going in another, and if you are not careful and observant you will end up moving in the opposite direction to your enemy.

Working around Body-blocking

Most competent supports will try to bodyblock their carry to prevent you from hitting them with your Barrage. There are two ways to deal with this, and each has its own pros and cons.

If you have a Target Lock on the enemy carry or support, you can use Suri Strike to take you nearer or behind the enemy carry where the support is not in the way. You will have a short amount of time to attack the enemy carry unhindered, and you can extend this time even more by using Death from Above to wall yourself and the enemy carry off from the rest of the enemy team. This is the fastest way to kill the enemy carry and it takes you near to them, so if the enemy carry is a squishy, high priority target who is weaker at close range, like a Celeste or Skaarf, this may be a good way to close the gap.

However, keep in mind that if an enemy carry is able to outtrade you in a 1v1, you may be playing right into their hands. Heroes like Ringo or Vox will be able to dodge your abilities at a close range and immediately burst you down.

Furthermore, a competent enemy team will immediately take the opportunity to collapse on you, potentially leaving you in a 1v3 behind enemy lines. This can potentially be a good thing as you can give your own teammates the chance to take the enemy team down while they are preoccupied with you, but if your teammates are slow to respond, you will probably die. Additionally, if your teammates are not a serious threat the enemy team will be able to ignore them and keep focus on you.

To pull this off properly, you need to analyze the situation and be aware of the risks you are taking. You need to be able to take on the carry in a straight up fight. You need to be able to burst the carry down before the enemy team has a chance to respond. You need to be able to survive on the back lines without help long enough for your captain to reach you. You need to be sure your teammates are both able to go in as well as be enough of a threat on the front lines to take full focus off of you. And lastly, you need to be able to escape if things go wrong, either through another Suri Strike or a boots active.

Another option you have is to ignore the carry and go for another target. You can choose to attack the jungler if they are giving your team trouble. Junglers like Krul and Alpha are big threats that ramp up in power as the fight progresses, so it might be best to focus on getting them out of the fight as soon as possible. As a carry, you will be targeted by the enemy jungler so you might have to focus on dealing with them instead while leaving the enemy carry to your own jungler. As a jungler, you can help your carry with the enemy jungler. The slow from your Frostburn can help peel for your carry while the large amount of damage you deal will discourage them from pursuing any further. Additionally, you can use Death from Above to block access to your carry, land a stun onto the enemy jungler, or wall them off from their team if they make the mistake of going too deep.

If the support is constantly getting in the way, you can choose to get a Target Lock on them and start Forward Barraging them instead. This is for a number of reasons. First, if the support will always take the damage from Forward Barrage for their carry, you may as well gain the additional damage and speed on them rather than unsuccessfully trying to land a Target Locked Barrage on the carry. Second, attacking the front-line support gives you an easy way to gather Broken Myth stacks. Thirdly, late game Skye has the firepower to severely damage even the tankiest of supports. After tanking a few Barrages, a support will likely not be able to bodyblock for their carry any more, and you can force them to waste their Fountain to stay alive, or even kill them.

However, whatever you do, do not allow killing the support to distract you. It will take a long time to do compared to killing the enemy carry, and while you are preoccupied, the enemy carry and jungler will be doing damage and gathering stacks. Instead, you should try to find gaps in the body block to hit the enemy carry with a non-target locked Forward Barrage from a large distance. A Forward Barrage boosted by Broken Myth stacks will dismantle a squishy even without a Target Lock. Whenever possible, peek out without cancelling your Barrage to hit the enemy carry and when they are ready to respond, go back to Barraging the support. Essentially, what you are doing in continuously running your Barrage back and forth between the enemy carry and support. This is a long range tactic so it is imperative that you stay out of range of the carry’s attacks.

The greatest benefit of this is that you stay at a safe distance from the fight, so you should use this approach if you do not want to engage the enemy carry in a straight up fight and instead want to poke them down from a distance. You should not use it if the enemy carry is a hero good at a long range (like a Celeste, Skaarf or Baron) or if you have the opportunity to use the first approach of going straight for the carry and killing them. Focusing lots of fire on the support allows the enemy jungler and carry to basically do whatever they want, so do not lose focus of your objective and keep an eye on them to make sure they are not stacking up or killing your teammates as you poke. Be ready to switch targets at any time if the tone of the fight shifts from a poke war to a full on engagement.

Forward Barraging without Target Lock

Let’s make one thing clear. If you are in range to get a Target Lock on an enemy, you should always do so. Both your mobility and damage rely on having one. However, Barraging without a Target Lock has a few situational uses you may want to be aware of.

Poking from range: As discussed earlier, if you do not have to get a Target Lock, you do not have to enter your opponent’s range. Forward Barrage has a surprisingly long range and you can use it to poke, harass, zone or even kill enemies from afar. The additional range is the only benefit to doing this, though, so if you are in range to get a Target Lock, get one.

Getting Broken Myth stacks: Doesn’t really need much explanation. You can build stacks from afar on easy targets like the support before jumping in to use them on squishier targets.

Checking Brush: Forward Barrage stops at the first enemy it hits, so you can use it to see if bushes are safe. However, enemies can dodge the barrage by stepping away so it looks like the brush is empty, so make sure you check the entire thing. Additionally, you need to be fairly close to check the entirety of the brush, so be prepared to be jumped.

De-stealthing Enemies: Like other skillshots, Forward Barrage does not require a target to activate. If an enemy goes invisible, you can guess where they are going and throw down a Barrage there to de-stealth them. If you are in brush and your health bar lights up indicating the enemy has vision on you and you don’t see anyone around, it’s a good idea to start Barraging to see if you can reveal someone. Additionally, if the enemy team has access to Mooncloak you might want to periodically fire Forward Barrage to scout for them.

Tips

If an enemy makes it out of your Forward Barrage, don’t always give up and cancel the ability immediately. You can still try to follow them and land the ability. However, it’s also important to know when a Forward Barrage is never going to land and give up.

Practice. Forward Barrage is a very difficult skillshot to land especially at higher levels of play, so don’t feel discouraged if you don’t always land it.

Frostburn can be an invaluable tool to help land Forward Barrage but you won’t always have it. Try to avoid being dependent on one to land your Barrage and practice by building a Shatterglass or Broken Myth as your first item instead. This will go a long way to making you better at landing Forward Barrage, and once you go back to Frostburn, it will feel much easier.

Suri Strike

About

Suri Strike can only be used when Skye has a Target Lock on an enemy. She can use the ability to dash to a target area around the Target Locked enemy. Suri Strike is the most important ability for Skye’s mobility, allowing her to reposition constantly and get out of (and into) sticky situations. Because the target zone for Suri Strike appears around the enemy, it also has the potential to be one of the longest dashes in the game, allowing Skye to dash next to an enemy from massive distances away as long as Target Lock is still on them. (Target Lock expires after Skye is a certain distance away, but the distance can be increased to a substantial amount by putting more points in Death from Above)

Suri Strike also reduces the cooldown on Forward Barrage, allowing Skye to Forward Barrage, Suri Strike, then Forward Barrage again in quick succession. When Suri Strike is overdriven, it completely resets the cooldown for Forward Barrage, allowing this combo to be pulled off even faster.

Finally, putting more points into Suri Strike increases the amount of time a Target Lock can remain on an enemy without Skye autoattacking to refresh it.

How to use it

Suri Strike should primarily be used after using up Skye’s first Forward Barrage to allow her to use it again. It is possible to Suri Strike on the spot (or very near to your current position) to gain the reset, but a skilled Skye player will make the most of every Suri Strike to reposition to a more tactical location. Generally, you want to Suri Strike to an area that is safe where you can Forward Barrage the enemy without getting blocked. You can use Suri Strike offensively to dash behind or closer to the enemy carry to kill them, or you can use it defensively to jump backwards (though the jump backwards is a rather small one) or around an enemy to escape.

Suri Strike also has limited use to allow you to jump through certain thin walls. The wall above the mid Treant, the one above the bottom shop camps and the walls around the Crystal Sentries are some notable ones that are useful to keep in mind.

Suri Strike can also be used to dodge targeted attacks. Skye can Suri Strike to the side to neatly dodge predictable abilities that have a windup. These include abilities like Quibble, Rocket Leap, Core Collapse and Impale. Using Suri Strike to dodge these moves means you don’t have to waste your Reflex Block on targeted CC and can instead save it for unavoidable moves like Yummy Catnip Frenzy or Merciless Pursuit. If you don’t even want to waste Suri Strike, consider using the speed boost from Target Lock to dance away from the abilities, although Suri Strike will get you away faster making it more suitable for more urgent dodges. Suri Strike still leaves you vulnerable to CC though, so on the off-chance you are hit while in flight, you will still be stunned or rooted or whatever, though you will complete the dash most of the time.

Lastly, Suri Strike also fires out missiles that deal CP damage. You lead these missiles, meaning they will follow the path you take. If you dash through the enemy, the missiles will hit them, dealing a small chunk of damage. Though this damage can be useful for farming, against squishy targets and early game, always remember that Suri Strike is first and foremost a repositioning ability. If you can land the missiles while going where you want to go, great, but if not, do not try to force it. You will do much more damage with Forward Barrage, and the damage the missiles do is not worth going through a lot of trouble for, and is certainly not worth your life and safe positioning.

Tips

Don’t get too excited when using Suri Strike. When players see an opportunity for a kill, they have a terrible habit of Suri Striking right next to their target and getting either dodged out because they are too close, or killed because they are within range. Consider carefully where you can dash to in order to make escape the hardest for your target as well as where you will be least at risk from a counterattack.

If you have a spare slot, consider carrying one or two flares. If you drop a flare over into a jungle camp area and gain vision on the camp, you will be able to attack the camp and Suri Strike over the wall, allowing you to move through the map quicker as well as make super cool escapes and plays that will surely be worth the immeasurable number of friends and family you have neglected for Vainglory.

On a similar note, when in a rush to get somewhere, use Suri Strike at every opportunity to speed up your journey. Moving across the map, you can gain Target Locks on the mid Treant and the Kraken/gold mine and Suri Strike across them.

If you are chasing a kill in the lane and the enemy carry runs behind their turret with only a sliver of health, you can Target Lock the turret and Suri Strike close enough to finish them. You will take turret aggro though, so be careful the enemy doesn’t decide to turn around and try kill you with the help of their turret.

Once again, be aware of everything you can Target Lock. Think of every target as a pivot you can swing round using Suri Strike to get you to where you want to be. In teamfights, you can Suri Strike using opponents, but also keep in mind jungle camps, lane minions, and the Kraken/gold mine.

Death From Above

About

Death from Above is excellent for putting opponents in difficult positions and limiting their options until there’s only one left: take a Forward Barrage to the face.

Activating the ability rains down missiles at a selected location after a short delay. The missiles deal damage, but this is pretty much negligible as the ability is used mainly for the CC and zoning potential. The first few missiles that land will stun, while the missiles after that will slow. This means that if you land Death from Above on an enemy directly it will stun them, but after this the missiles serve mainly to discourage an enemy from walking through the area. Like Suri Strike, Death from Above requires a Target Lock to use and the targeting circle appears around the enemy instead of around Skye. What makes this ability unique is that is has two forms. If aimed on top of an enemy, missiles rain down in a cluster. If aimed away from an enemy, missiles rain down as a line.

Line ultimates are the more versatile of the two. Because of their length, they can be used to block off large parts of the battlefield to great effect. Line ults are generally used to zone enemies or force them to move in a predictable direction they might not have wanted to.

Cluster ultimates have more limited use since they can only be aimed on top of an opponent. Since they are wider but not as long, cluster ultimates can be used to plug up choke points to prevent enemy escape or pursuit. However, cluster ults should mostly be used when you want to get a stun off onto your opponent. Because of the delay before the missiles hit, you can’t just cluster ult an opponent whenever you want and expect a stun. An enemy will have to be CCed or be distracted in order for you to land an ult properly, so it’s generally a good idea to use a cluster ult to continue CC chains your teammates start. For example, you could get a Target Lock on your enemy, wait for your Catherine to stun them with Merciless Pursuit, then immediately follow it up with a cluster ult. Cluster ultimates are very difficult to land, but they are incredibly rewarding as a successful one will lock an enemy down long enough for you to Forward Barrage them to death.

How to use it

Death from Above is a very versatile ability that can be used as both an offensive and defensive tool. Here are some of its main uses:

Blocking off escape

Using the line variation of Death from Above, you can wall off an escape path for an enemy, either forcing them to turn back, take a longer way round, or even better, accidentally get caught in the stun giving your team more than enough time to catch them. Sometimes aiming this can be a bit tricky as an ideal ultimate will fire the stunning missiles just as the enemy reaches the area, but you can’t fire it too late or the enemy will have run past the missiles by the time they start to land.

Generally, I’ve found that it’s better to aim the ult a little further away than you want to as even if the ult does not land right on top of the enemy, the wall will still inconvenience them and force them to change direction. A stun may spell certain death for an enemy, but don’t always feel that it’s completely necessary to land one as sometimes blocking the enemy’s path is enough to secure a kill.

Blocking off pursuit

Using the line ultimate in a similar way can also have great benefits defensively. Aiming the ultimate in front of you can stop an enemy from getting nearer to you as you and your team escape or poke. This is most effective against melees who need to walk through the line in order to hit you, and least effective against heroes with long range who don’t. However, this does not always work as enemies can activate Reflex Block to walk through or hit a mobility ability or boots to speed through before the missiles come down. If this happens, you can Suri Strike to the other side of the ultimate forcing them to walk through it AGAIN.

Separating enemies

As I mentioned earlier you can also use the line ultimate during teamfights to seal an overaggressive enemy off from their team leaving them alone against all three members of your team. Another possibility, if you have a Target Lock on an enemy carry, is to Suri Strike over to them and use Death from Above to seal the two of you off for a 1v1.

You can use your ultimate in any way you can imagine to split enemy members up and force disadvantageous fights. This is especially useful when paired up with other zoning tools, like Celeste’s stars, Baron’s Porcupine Mortars, or even better, Ardan’s Gauntlet which you can combo your Death from Above with to lock enemies in a very small area.

When you see certain enemies positioning a bit too far away from their teammates, you should consider dropping Death from Above to split them off. If you successfully turn a 3v3 into a 2v3 or even a 1v3 you have secured a huge advantage for your team.

Stuns

Landing a stun with Death from Above is incredibly rewarding because enemies will not only have to wait out the stun but will also be forced to walk out of the zone while slowed, taking damage all the while from you and your teammates. I mentioned earlier you should wait for your teammates to use more reliable CC on an opponent before you chain Death from Above in, but you can also land the stun by predicting your opponents’ movements and catching them off guard. If you are sure you know where an opponent wants to go, drop an ultimate slightly in front of that. If they are not paying attention, they will be hit by the stun.

You can also pull off what I like to call a surprise stun by Target Locking a target near to you, such as the enemy support, and aiming Death from Above behind to hit a target in the back line, like the enemy carry. If not Target Locked themselves, enemies are much more likely to be complacent and be surprised by your ultimates. After you land a stun, Suri Strike over to the target and kill them with Forward Barrage.

Tips

You can use your ult while Forward Barraging. It is easier to wait till you are not to place your ult so you do not have so many things to focus on at once, but not having to wait can be very useful in certain situations.

When being pursued by a melee hero and trying to land a stun, avoid kiting back after you aim your ultimate on the enemy. If you kite back, they will follow you and walk out of the ult. However, if you stay still and let them hit you they may be baited into standing in the stun zone.

When aiming your ultimate for a stun, try to place it in such a way that it will still be useful even if you don’t land it on an opponent. In the example I described above where you cut an opponent’s escape off, the ideal situation is if the stun lands on the fleeing enemy. However, even if it doesn’t, their path of escape is still blocked off. Lots of Skye players waste their ultimate by immediately trying to drop a cluster ult on top of the first enemy they see. Instead of this, try to use your ult tactically so that it benefits you even if it misses.

Play around your ultimate once it is placed. Death from Above’s usefulness does not end once the missiles stop stunning. By placing the ultimate, you create an area where opponents will be reluctant to go. Take advantage of this by using Target Lock and Suri Strike to dance back and forth between both sides of your ult so that the line or cluster is always separating you from your enemies.

Death from Above is a zoning ability first and a stun second. You should be using the line ult more often than the cluster one and be using it to block enemies rather than try to stun them. Save cluster ults and surprise stuns for opportune moments rather than constantly trying to land them.

This section is dedicated to what you should aim to do in teamfights as Skye as well as role-specific information about Skye in the lane and jungle. I’ll attempt to keep this brief as lots of how to play teamfights is already covered in the Kit section and this guide is getting obscenely long, much longer than I intended for it to be in the first place.

Leveling Up

Always take Forward Barrage first if you are in the jungle, and almost always if you are in the lane. Take Suri Strike if you feel like you will need the extra mobility to dodge around in the lane, but Forward Barrage is almost always a better choice.

Max out your Forward Barrage first. The Suri Strike cooldown reset is tempting, but levelling Forward Barrage gives you much better burst and snowball potential early and you still have cooldown reduction even if Suri Strike is not maxed.

Take a point in your ultimate at level 6, and put points into Suri Strike to max it out second, leaving the ultimate with two points. You can skip out on maxing the ultimate since you only rely on it of CC and zoning, but Forward Barrage is what makes CP Skye CP Skye, so you should build and level around making your Forward Barrage as strong as possible. This point distribution gives you a stronger Forward Barrage that you can reset with Suri Strike and use more often.

Skye in the Lane

*I don’t play Skye very much in the lane so take whatever I say here with a grain of salt. It’s definitely not completely off, but my general inexperience with and dislike of lane CP Skye definitely show through.

Starting Items

You have a few choices here.

Crystal Bit, Weapon Blade: are the items I prefer the most. Crystal Bit is most relevant to your final build path and Weapon Blade helps you last hit better which Skye isn’t that great with.

Book of Eulogies, Crystal Bit/ Book of Eulogies, T1 Defence: are good starting items if you are going up against laners that put a lot of pressure on you early, like SAW and Adagio. Book of Eulogies gives you a tiny bit of WP and helps you recover health that you might lose. Building a Crystal Bit lets you trade back a bit of the damage and be more useful in early fights whereas building T1 defence lets you take a bit more of a beating and also leaves you with enough gold to buy 3 Halcyon Potions as opposed to 1, letting you stay in lane a bit longer.

Double Crystal Bit is the most relevant to your later build path and lets you help your team skirmish early, but last hitting will be more difficult and you won’t have a Book to recover health. You should consider this if you plan to rotate aggressively with your team to invade the enemy jungle or take the Elder Treant.

Last hitting

Skye’s clear speed isn’t very good early. Rely mainly on your autoattacks to take minions down, and remember that your attack speed is pretty slow so don’t cancel your autos by accident. You can secure last hits you are about to miss by turning on Forward Barrage immediately before the minion gets taken down. In case you have to last hit under turret (this will happen often if you lane against a SAW) here are some general tips on that. Small minions take two hits from the turret to kill. The first hit will take one down low enough to be killed by Skye. Big minions take 3 hits from the turret. You will need to autoattack a full health minion once for the first two turret hits to take it low enough to kill without any WP.

Trading and fights

Fights in the lane are pretty disadvantageous for Skye because lane minions block her Forward Barrage. If you want to pressure the enemy laner early, make sure you clear as many minions as possible before picking a fight. You can poke the enemy laner from afar with Forward Barrage or you can Suri Strike in and try for a kill. Suri Strike missiles do quite a bit early game so try land them if you can maintain a safe position. You can also Suri Strike using a minion to engage onto them. When you have your ultimate, you can help your teammates gank by cutting off the enemy carry’s escape using a line ult. Don’t worry if you can’t pressure your opponent that much or secure any kills because you scale very well into late game and you should be focusing on farming and not dying.

Escaping ganks

Escaping isn’t Skye’s strong suit but Suri Strike give you a few options to make it back to your turret safe. You can Target Lock a minion to Suri Strike away or if there are no minions, Target Lock your pursuer and jump backwards. You can also Target Lock a different enemy to take you further away from the enemy ganking you. If Suri Strike is unavailable or you get hit by CC, you’re pretty much screwed, but you can try to make it back by using your Target Lock speed boost.

Skye in the Jungle

Starting Items

Start with two Crystal Bits to give you the fastest jungle clear. I always start with these and from what I can tell they are the most preferred starting items on Jungle CP Skye, but you can also start with a Weapon Blade and a Crystal Bit if you plan on getting into skirmishes early with slippery enemies like Taka. The Weapon Blade gives your autoattacks extra damage so you can fight even while your Barrage is on cooldown or has been dodged. This is situational though, and I would advise going with double Crystal Bits in almost all cases.

Elder Treant Rotation

Start by taking the middle Treant before moving to take the Elder Treant then take shop camps and finally your backs. Skye can kill a Treant quickly with one Barrage when building double crystal bits, so you aren’t wasting much time. The health regen from the middle Treant can help you in a fight if your enemies decide to contest the Elder Treant. I would definitely not do this if my opponents had a stronger early game comp as this rotation depends on you being able to win early fights and secure the Elder Treant. This is not my preferred rotation as I feel the Elder Treant is just not worth it, but maybe I’m just especially spineless. However, if the enemies had an especially weak early game (Alpha, Krul) I would choose this rotation to be able to have the chance to pick and win a fight or invade the enemy jungle after taking the Elder Treant.

Front camps Rotation

Start by taking the front camps, do not try for the Elder Treant, then take your mid Treant, then your backs. Go up to lane to gank, then come back down to check for the Elder Treant before rotating again. This rotation is if you don’t want to fight but are so unbelievably petty that you just can’t stand losing your front camps. Again, probably not the best rotation if your opponents seem like they might play aggressive early as if they invade your jungle first they will reach you just in time to kill you and take your backs.

Back camps Rotation

This is my favourite rotation because I hate change. Start at your backs and clear forward like normal. If the Elder Treant is available, then take it and if not, gank the lane. I fall back on this rotation unless I want to fight early because I don’t think the Elder Treant is worth it. You get a small amount of gold and exp in exchange for having a permanently slower rotation in comparison to your enemies. This rotation has the added benefit of being much safer because you get to secure your backs first. I would definitely take this rotation when up against a comp with a strong early game.

Clearing camps

Get a Target Lock on one camp monster and clear using Forward Barrage. Use Suri Strike and Forward Barrage again if necessary. The back camps walk towards you in such a way that they will alternately get hit by your Forward Barrage, leaving them both low enough to be finished by Suri Strike.

For a more efficient clear, leash both the backs and the Treant and attack them all with Forward Barrage-Suri Strike-Forward Barrage. This is more energy efficient as you use half the amount of Forward Barrages and Suri Strikes, but once the camps get tankier this won’t work anymore as you’ll need more Forward Barrages to finish them. You’ll also take damage from all the camps at once so be sure you aren’t on low health when you try this. And lastly, be careful to not lose aggro on any of the camps by moving out of leash range, or you will just waste time and feel like a total idiot as opposed to a 100% efficient jungle clearing robot god.

If you are low on energy, you can use Death from Above and Suri Strike to clear instead since Death from Above has a fairly low cooldown and lower energy cost than Forward Barrage. Pick your moments carefully though. Don’t use this clear if you think you may be fighting before the ult comes back online.

Ganking

Skye is quite good at pulling off quick ganks. As fast as possible, Target Lock a minion (preferably a large one so it doesn’t die before you dash) and Suri Strike over to the carry. Target Lock them then start Forward Barraging them. A full Barrage will kill any squishy early, and landing part of it will take them down fairly low and force them to play passive or port back. Once again, when you hit level 6 you can use your ult to block off escape.

Skye in Teamfights

This part will be short as I have already covered this exhaustively in earlier sections. It will be more of a summary of everything I talked about in the Kit section.

As Skye in a teamfight, your goal should be to kill the squishiest, highest priority target you can possibly get your grease-stained, mech-suited gun hands on. While doing this, you should cause chaos by using your ultimate to divide the enemy team or wall paths or escape or pursuit off. Target Lock enemies and Forward Barrage them, and Suri Strike to refresh the ability and dodge around.

You can either go for the carry or the jungler. Going for the carry is faster and more rewarding, but can also be risky and sometimes impossible till you take down other enemies. Go for the carry by Suri Striking to them and sealing you two off for some bullets-to-the-face-private-fun-time with Death from Above. You need to be sure you can take the carry down in a 1v1. Going in on a Celeste or Skaarf will fluster them since they are not good up close but diving a late game Ringo, late game Vox or spun-up SAW can be suicide. Also, be aware that the enemy team can collapse on you leaving you in a 1v3.

Going for the jungler will take pressure off your own carry but will give the opposing carry a chance to go to town on your team without anyone to keep them in check. Use Death from Above to trap the enemy jungler alone with your team for maximum effect.

You can play defensively as well. Poke from range using Forward Barrage and build Broken Myth stacks until you have enough to go in and burst someone down. Or just keep poking till everyone is dead. Use Suri Strike to kite backwards and away and set up safe zones for your team using Death from Above. Whenever possible, aim for the carry using Forward Barrage, but stay out of their range if you don’t want to get melted.

Be flexible enough to switch from target to target, but if you set a goal to kill a priority target, never lose sight of that and take them out as soon as you have the chance.

Lots of Skye’s matchups are neutral ones. You’ll have to outplay your enemies in most cases in order to get ahead. However, Skye has a few favourable matchups against slow, immobile enemies while she tends to struggle against mobile, high output enemies who can dodge her abilities and burst her down.

Matchups A-Z (well, to V…)

Adagio

Adagio

A favourable matchup for Skye. Adagio has little mobility to dodge Forward Barrage, and the cast time for Verse of Judgement leaves him vulnerable to Skye’s abilities, particularly Death from Above. You should be careful though. Adagio has very strong early game damage and a very long range and can easily chunk you when his Agent of Wrath is up. If you are laning against him, you may want to buy a Book to deal with his poke. However, Skye has a much better late game than Adagio, so if you play cautiously and farm well you should do well. When fighting him, be careful not to get close to him, his allies or minions to avoid getting hit by Gift of Fire, which increases his damage on you. Additionally, you should not press too close to him because if he heals himself you will be slowed. Try to look for a good moment to go in when Agent of Wrath is on cooldown because his damage drops substantially without it. Buy a Reflex Block to block Verse of Judgement as well.

Alpha

Alpha

A difficult matchup for Skye. Alpha’s two gapclosers allow her to stick to Skye easily. Prime Directive in particular is very troublesome as the slow can make it difficult to escape and if Alpha builds into the CP path it can do huge burst damage. Suri Strikes will be very important here to dodge the targeting beam from Prime Directive, and to kite away when Alpha gets close. When Alpha is rebooting, you can aim a cluster Death from Above on her just as the reboot finishes to ensure she is hit by the stun straight after rebooting. Do not get hit by the explosion from Termination Protocol or you will be taken very low or killed. On the flipside, CP Alpha, the more popular path, is weak early, so try to starve her by invading her jungle, picking fights, and stealing farm.

Ardan

Ardan

While not necessarily a bad matchup for Skye, Ardan has lots of tools in his kit that can make your life more difficult. His perk allows him to tank Skye’s Forward Barrage to bodyblock for his carry (though late game Skye’s damage is so overwhelming he will be unable to do this for too long). Vanguard can save a carry from your Forward Barrage, so make sure to keep track of when it is on and off cooldown so you can figure out when to go in. Gauntlet can be a big problem for Skye since it limits her movements and forces her into a smaller zone, hurting her kite potential. If you time Death from Above perfectly, you can stun Ardan as he leaps to place the Gauntlet, but this is difficult to do. Make sure you get a Reflex Block to go through the Gauntlet as being stuck inside with the enemy team could potentially be the death of you. Even though enemies can walk through their own Gauntlet, they will tend to fight inside it and ignore you if you are outside, while Ardan cannot walk out at all without dropping the walls. Take advantage of this by positioning outside the Gauntlet where enemies are less likely to go and poke from there. Be careful not to accidentally run into the Gauntlet walls.

Baron

Baron

A good matchup for Skye. Baron’s weak early game allows Skye to snowball very well and Skye can easily dodge his Mortars using Target Lock and Suri Strike. When playing against a Baron, take advantage of your early game strength to take control of the game. If you are a jungler, pick lots of fights and gank the lane frequently to prevent Baron from farming up. As a carry, harass Baron frequently in lane using Forward Barrage and rotate down to help your team invade the jungle.
Baron is much more of a threat late game, but you can still win most fights with him provided you play well. Use Suri Strike to get up close to him and Forward Barrage him. Baron is squishy so you will be able to burst him down fairly quickly, and he is poor at close quarters fights. He will be able to Jump Jets away, though, but you can follow him with Suri Strike if you have it up. Be careful of getting bursted down yourself as Baron has a very long range late game and does huge damage on his autoattacks if building into WP. Keep an eye out for the Ion Cannon targeting area so you can dodge away with Suri Strike. Defense is important against a late game Baron. Buy Metal Jacket if he is going WP or Aegis if he is going CP.(though if he goes CP, good positioning and dodging will do far more than defense)

Blackfeather

Blackfeather

A neutral matchup. Blackfeather has the tools to catch and kill Skye, but Skye has to tools to kite away and kill Blackfeather. A good Blackfeather will engage onto you using Feint of Heart, leaving him two Rose Offensive charges. Keep track of his charges because once he has used them up he’s basically done and you can kill him, so it’s all about outlasting him. Suri Strike is your best friend here. Move trickily and kite like there’s no tomorrow, while using Forward Barrage to force Rose Offensive out of him. Aiming a Death from Above well will also force him to use Rose Offensive. When not Barraging, use Target Lock and Suri Strike to move from side to side or run little rings around him so he is more likely to miss On Point. Landing On Point is a big part of Blackfeather’s tankiness so if you are able to dodge it, he will go down much easier. Blackfeather also has a weak early game, so pressure and gank him in the lane if he is a carry as he lacks an escape early or invade his jungle and kill him if he is a jungler.

Catherine

Catherine

A favourable matchup since Catherine’s Stormguard does nothing against Skye’s Forward Barrage allowing her to be bursted down. However, this is not a situation to get complacent in as Catherine brings lots of CC to a fight which Skye is very bad at dealing with. You should pick up a Reflex Block soon after completing your first T3 to block Merciless Pursuit, leaving Blast Tremor to your support to Crucible. Catherines will usually try to stun you every time they have the stun off cooldown, so it’s important to know which stuns are more important to block. Sometimes a stun is only meant to annoy and harass you, or build stacks of Catherine’s perk. These stuns are the less important ones to block. However, some stuns are meant to be followed up with a hard engage or more CC, or to prevent you from kiting away or escaping, so you need to block these or it will likely mean your death. If you see enemies readying abilities or following Catherine from behind, you should probably block the stun. Popping War Treads is also another sure sign your enemies are about to commit to an engage.

Another way to stop Merciless Pursuit from hitting you is by activating Forward Barrage on an approaching Catherine and kiting back. The slow from Frostburn will prevent her from reaching you, forcing her to waste the stun on someone else or retreat.

Celeste

Celeste

A favourable matchup. Celeste is both squishy and immobile, so you can kill her fairly quickly with Forward Barrage. Suri Strike close and burst her down, but be very careful you don’t get hit by Core Collapse as she will likely be able to run away or kill you as you are stunned. Press your advantage early game, as Celeste has a strong late game. Once she overdrives Heliogenesis, her stars gain a massive range boost meaning she can play from further back where it’s harder to get to her. Use Suri Strike and Target Lock to move unpredictably and dodge her stars and Core Collapse. Also, be aware of when she starts to wind up for Solar Storm as if she lands it on you, you will be decimated.

Flicker

Flicker

A difficult matchup for Skye, and certainly a very annoying one. Flicker has the ability to sneak up on Skye and slow her with Fairy Dust, which is disastrous given how dependent on kiting and mobility Skye is. When caught in Flicker’s B, use Suri Strike to escape its hitbox. Also be careful not to get hit by Binding Light though it is extremely easy to dodge.

You need to rely on your support to be on top of their vision game, but you should also carry a few flares yourself in case an enemy goes invisible and your support is not there to help. If you are in brush and your health bar lights up, Forward Barrage instantly and chances are you will reveal Flicker trying to scout for enemies. Mooncloak is global, so don’t be alarmed if an enemy you are chasing suddenly disappears. Throw down a flare then autoattack the enemy to break their stealth. If you have no flares, try guess where the enemy has gone and throw a Forward Barrage there.

Fortress

Fortress

Another tough matchup. Fortress grants his allies excellent chase potential making it harder for you to kite them. His speed boost from Packmates also allows him to bodyblock for his team and he can deal quite a good amount of damage to you if he builds into a Stormcrown or Aftershock, or if he is the jungler. And lastly, the wolves he sends out from his ultimate completely ruin your fun by blocking Forward Barrage. Try keep track of this cooldown to pick fights when he has no ultimate available, and if you must fight him while it is up, kit backwards till you have dealt with all the wolves before fighting. If enemies keep pressing forward, you can discourage further pursuit by throwing down Death from Above.

Glaive

Glaive

A neutral matchup. The dynamic in Skye-Glaive fights is totally dependent on the availability of Glaive’s Afterburn. With it, Glaive can dash in and burst Skye down, but without it, he can be kited like there’s no tomorrow. Make an effort to log when Glaive uses this ability so you know when to fight and when not to. When overdriven, Afterburn has a 10 second cooldown. (given that Glaive does not build cooldown items) You should always have a Target Lock on something so that if you get knocked back by Afterburn you can Suri Strike away to safety. Reflex Block can also help you by blocking Afterburn, but Afterburn is so quick it can be virtually impossible to block. Furthermore, blocking it can be disadvantageous for you as you are blocking the displacement as well as the stun, meaning that Glaive will have just jumped right next to you to attack. It can sometimes inconvenience Glaive more if you don’t block the knockback from Afterburn as he will have to run to you again. However, if he has a good angle on Afterburn (the knockback takes you into a wall or in the middle of the enemy team) you should really try to block it. If he does not manage to kill you with an Afterburn he will likely retreat to wait on the cooldown and try again. You can prevent this by using Death from Above to block his escape path and kill him while he is immobile and Afterburn-less.

Grumpjaw

Grumpjaw

A favourable matchup(?) Grumpjaw’s release was fairly recent so I haven’t had much of a chance to play against him but I’ve had little trouble when I did. Grumpjaw is slow so he is an excellent target for Forward Barrage, and Grumpy, which can be dodged, is the only one of his abilities that will take him close enough to Skye. Grumpjaw has an excellent early game, so you should wait him out until he falls off later in the game. Stuffed is the only one of his abilities you need to constantly be wary of as it can take you very far out of position. Before executing the ability, Grumpjaw will stamp his feet before charging, and arrows will appear below him indicating the ult has been activated, so be ready to Reflex Block when that happens. When Grumpjaw charges in, he has no way out till Grumpy comes back online so you and your team can collapse and kill him before this happens. If you dodge Grumpy, you will have dodged most of Grumpjaw’s burst and he will be unable to keep up with you without the slow it provides on you.

Gwen

Gwen

A fairly favourable matchup. Gwen has a short range and is squishy, but she can slow and stun you, and she is mobile enough to dodge Forward Barrage. Gwen has a slow early game, so you should pressure her and gank the lane frequently to prevent her from farming. During the late game, she can deal large amounts of burst damage, but only if you are in range. Poke her from a distance and kite her to prevent her from reaching you. Skedaddle allows Gwen a free escape out of your Forward Barrage or Death from Above, but once it is burnt she has no other mobility skills. Skedaddle’s passive only works when she is not taking damage meaning that if you hit her, she will not be able to dodge your Barrages out as easily. Frostburn is very important here, as is Reflex Block. Watch for Aces High so you can block it as if she gets the stun off on you and gets close, she will burst you down.

Idris

Idris

A difficult matchup. Idris is mobile enough to engage upon you and dodge your skills, and can deal a substantial amount of burst late in the game. His Chakram can chunk you, even if he is on the WP path. CP Idris is easier to deal with. He will mainly stay on the back line and poke using his Chakram, so deal with him in a similar way with Celeste, though be aware that he can dodge you out using Shimmer Strike long enough for his team to come and help. Use Suri Strike and Target Lock to stay away from his Chakram. WP Idris is able to blink, so he is a much bigger problem as he can teleport to dodge away from Forward Barrage. When Idris first blinks onto you, he will have a health barrier. Wait the barrier out and use this time to reposition instead. You should keep hitting him as he will be able to get the barrier from Shroudstep again if he goes without taking damage for 4.5 seconds. It can be confusing to keep track of Idris with him blinking everywhere but you can make his life more difficult by also constantly repositioning using Suri Strike, and by blocking off certain paths using your ultimate. Also, Idris has a fairly lackluster early game so you can take advantage of this, though his Chakram will still hurt a lot early.

Joule

Joule

A difficult matchup. Joule’s perk gives her the ability to tank Forward Barrage for a while even without building heavily into defense. You can Suri Strike behind her to get past the directional defenses and deal more damage. WP Joule will usually poke a little from the distance using Thunder Strikes then jump in to try for the stun using Rocket Leap. If you get caught by the stun, you’ll pretty much be finished since Joule can deal burst damage very quickly especially if she has lots of crit. However, you can dodge Rocket Leap fairly easily using Target Lock or Suri Strike as it is quite slow. If you can, try place Death from Above where she is about to land to get the stun off. CP Joule is a lot simpler, but not necessarily simpler in your favour. If you dodge Big Red Button, you win. If you don’t, you die. Well, I mean unless she builds Echo. Ok, maybe it’s not as simple. CP Joule is able to kill you in one ult, but she is lackluster in every other area. If you can Suri Strike behind her without getting hit while she ults, you can have a rest, finish today’s crossword, and count the grains of sand on every beach in the world before you kill her because she is a sitting duck while ulting. Some CP Joule players will jump in to stun you then ult you, but smarter CP Joule players will stay back then unleash the ult while you are CCed or otherwise not expecting it, so stay aware of Joule constantly. Slumbering Husk is great if you find yourself getting hit by Joule’s ults a lot. Also build Reflex Block to block Rocket Leap.

Kestrel

Kestrel

A neutral matchup. Kestrel has little in the way of mobility but she has a huge amount of burst with Glimmershot and can poke you down from afar, especially on her CP path. Metal Jacket and Aegis are important here. If you get onto Kestrel, you can kill her quickly. On WP, she can escape a little easier once she has 200 WP built, so you need to take fights before this happens. On CP, Kestrel’s long stealth times allow her to avoid getting caught in the first place so you should have lots of vision and flares placed down, and remember where she places her Active Camo mist traps. When she disappears, you can reveal her by using Forward Barrage. Buy a Reflex Block so you can block the Active Camo stun when you walk through it to pursue. You can also use Reflex Block to block an unavoidable One Shot One Kill. A nice trick to do if you want to get Kestrels to unstealth is to pretend you are about to walk into a mist trap. Most Kestrels get so excited that they are finally about to get a super sick play for their montage that they will reveal themselves in order to blow up the trap.

Koshka

Koshka

A difficult matchup. Koshka’s immense mobility from Bloodrush can make trying to land Forward Barrage a living hell for you. She can run in and out and around you, and has a much better early game than you do. Play passively and farm up for the late game where she falls off. Consider building some shield a bit earlier and a Reflex Block for her ultimate, but do not go too far into defense or you will be unable to trade back damage yourself. Yummy Catnip Frenzy spells certain doom for you if landed, so constantly keep one finger over the active button for Reflex Block when fighting her. If you’re playing with sound, listen to the telltale sound effect on its activation or Reflex Block right as the eyes appear above you. Additionally, if you time Death from Above just right as Koshka dashes to you for Yummy Catnip Frenzy, you will be able to aim the ultimate on top of yourself and her and stun her out of the animation, freeing yourself. Try to stay next to your team while fighting her so that you all can land damage on her, forcing her to retreat and so there is someone around to kill her if she ults one of you and locks herself down.

Krul

Krul

“I have suffered enough.”
-Kroll OP

A very favourable matchup for Skye. Krul moves predictably and is fairly immobile so he is an easy target for your abilities. Though the recent update has given him quite a great deal more stickiness on his perk, if there’s anyone that can kite him, it’s Skye. Starve Krul early by picking fights and stealing away camps. If you are being chased, you can backpedal while Barraging or use Death from Above to block pursuit or even try for a stun. Remember my earlier tip about trying for the stun on melees. Stay still and let them hit you while the ability comes down and they may stand still as well long enough for the stun to hit them. Be careful about fighting Krul in brush though, because he has far better mobility inside it and if you are laning, be careful of ganks as Krul can burst you down if he gets the jump on you. Lastly, build a Reflex Block and watch for From Hell’s Heart. You can sometimes survive the stun if he lands it at point blank range, but if he lands a boomerang stun at max range on you, you might as well put down the game and come back the next year, because that’s approximately how long the stun will last for. If Krul runs up to you and you see a sword flying behind him, get ready to block.

Lance

Lance

“Please do not scuff my armor, THANK YOU.”
-One Lance Man

Another rage inducing matchup for Skye. Lance has the ability to lock a target down for an infinite amount of time (data may not be appropriate, actual duration may be a little longer) and this is especially awful for a mobility dependent squishy like Skye. However, you do have the tools to dodge out the CC. You can use Suri Strike to dodge Impale, then punish Lance with Forward Barrage while he recovers from the miss penalty. Stay away from walls to avoid getting stunned by Gythian Wall. Lance’s directional defenses are extremely effective against Forward Barrage, but late game Skye does have the potential to kill him. Eventually. Aaaaaaaaaany minute now. Oh, come on, he rolled through the wall again?

Lyra

Lyra

A neutral matchup. Lyra is squishy for a support and cannot tank Forward Barrage, but Bright Bulwark disables Skye’s Suri Strike, crippling her mobility for a short time while Principle Arcanum attacks can slow Skye as well as do a substantial amount of damage early game (though their effectiveness is reduced late game). Furthermore, a good Lyra can set up extremely quick surprise attacks using Arcane Passage, which helps less mobile enemies get in close to kill Skye. Get a Reflex Block to negate the effects of the Bulwark and be on the lookout for unexpected portal engages. When teamfighting, try to make battles short and sweet instead of engaging in a poke war with the enemy team as Lyra thrives in extended battles with the teamwide sustain she provides with her Sigil. Consider going straight for the enemy carry as Lyra is too fragile to bodyblock your Forward Barrage, especially late game, and she may be forced to detonate her Imperial Sigil early in order to help her carry run away using the speed boost, wasting the heal. If you are laning and the enemy has a Lyra on their team, consider building a Book of Eulogies or some early shielding as Lyra will continuously poke and harass you early game.

Ozo

Ozo

“What do I have to do to get kicked out of this place?”
-Ozo, about Vainglory. If only, Ozo. If only.

A difficult matchup for Skye. Acrobounce allows Ozo to reliably get close enough to Skye to attack, and the fortified health he gains makes him much more difficult to kill while in the air. Kite away using Suri Strike, and let your support peel for you. However, be aware that staying near your allies will give Ozo another target to Acrobounce on. Build shield and a Reflex Block to prevent yourself from being bursted down and to be able to block Bangarang. Once Acrobounce and Bangarang have been used up, Ozo can only gap close using Three Ring Circus, so this is a good time to pick a fight since you will be able to kite him much more effectively. Another helpful trick is if you wait for Ozo to switch Acrobounce away to someone else, then dash as far away as possible so he cannot target you for the next bounce, forcing him to waste it.

Petal

Petal

“From earth we sprout, for earth we fight!”
-Satan

Another difficult matchup. Petal’s munions are incredibly annoying due to how they block Forward Barrage, she can Trampoline out of Forward Barrage,and she has the potential to dominate the early game. Play passively and wait for late game, where Petal starts to fall off massively. Consider building into Shatterglass to be able to kill her munions quicker. Early shield is also important if you find yourself in unavoidable fights. When chasing, remember that Petal’s munions can be destroyed by Forward Barrage, but not her seeds, which it will go through. If you want to be able to get past a seed in a choke point, Target Lock it and Suri Strike over. Petal can be tough to face, but you scale far better into the late game, where you will shred her munions with Forward Barrage as soon as they appear.

Phinn

Phinn

“Free BM stacks.”
-ScaPredator

An easy matchup, but again, not one you want to get complacent in. Phinn is slow and immobile, allowing you to constantly stack Broken Myth on him, and Quibble can easily be avoided using Suri Strike. However, Forced Accord can absolutely ruin your day if you get careless. Buy a Reflex Block and constantly keep an eye out for Phinn starting the pull animation. Polite Company can mildly inconvenience you by pulling you away from an enemy you are Forward Barraging, but this is pretty much all the threat Phinn poses to you if you stay cautious and play smartly.

Reim

Reim

A favourable matchup for Skye. Reim struggles to catch up to more mobile enemies so he can be easily kited. However, if he gets onto your teammates he will be able to lifesteal and gain fortified health off them, making it difficult for you to burst him down. Fight him by dodging his Spires using Suri Strike, and try to land a Death from Above stun on him. If you have to make a choice between dodging a Spire and landing Forward Barrage, always dodge the spire as the fortified health Reim will gain will end the trade in his favour. Whatever you do, do not let him root you on top of a Spire or you will likely die. Keep a Reflex Block or Suri Strike handy to dodge the stun from Valkyrie.

Ringo

Ringo

Neutral in the early game, difficult in the late game. Ringo’s Twirling Silver keeps him mobile enough to dodge out Forward Barrages, and his damage output is insane late game if building into crit. Achilles Shot can seriously hurt Skye’s mobility and Hellfire Brew can be a big nuisance due to how squishy Skye is. Gank Ringo early, but remember that his early game is still fairly strong. In the late game, do not ever try to 1v1 a Ringo as you will die instantly unless he was low to begin with. Instead, poke at him from out of his range until he dies. Do not enter his range until you absolutely feel you can kill him immediately. Use Death from Above defensively to keep him away, and build into a Metal Jacket.

Rona

Rona

Favourable. Skye can kite Rona well while damaging her. Build Frostburn to keep her at bay and Suri Strike away when she jumps in with Into the Fray. Rona moves slower when she starts spinning, so you can try for an ult stun or just prevent her from following you by putting down a line ult. Do not get caught in Red Mist as it will take your health off very quickly. Build lots of damage to burst Rona down and armor so she can’t build Breaking Point stacks off you easily.

Samuel

Samuel

A favourable matchup. Skye has a better early game than Samuel and scales around as well. The speed boost from Malice and Verdict can allow Samuel to dodge Forward Barrage, but Frostburn can help with this. Remember that Samuel needs to fight inside his Drifting Dark cloud to be effective. Take advantage of this by steering the direction of the fight in the opposite direction the cloud is moving in, and when the ability is on cooldown, go in for the kill. Oblivion can be very troublesome, so remember to Reflex Block it.

SAW

SAW

A very favourable matchup. SAW has to choose between not having enough damage to fight Skye and not having enough mobility to catch her. When SAW is using Suppressing Fire, you can stun and kill him by using Death from Above then Suri Striking behind him to finish him with Forward Barrage. Engage onto SAW when he has no stacks of Spin Up, and when he is spun up, you can poke at him from out of range with a Target Lock-less Barrage. CP SAW is a little more troublesome, but you can deal with him too. Use Suri Strike to dodge out of Suppressing Fire before you take to much damage. If SAW tries to shank you, backpedal while Forward Barraging to let the Frostburn slow prevent him from reaching you. When up against WP SAW, you might want to swap out Frostburn for a Shatterglass for the extra burst and since you don’t really need the slow. This should be an easy win for you as long as you don’t get cocky and Suri Strike into a fully spun up SAW.

Skaarf

Skaarf

“Whaaargbl”
-Skaarf, on the complexities of Churn pollution and its effects on the Halcyon Fold. Well said.

A favourable matchup. Skaarf, like Celeste has no mobility abilities to escape your Forward Barrage. Play in a similar way to Celeste, Suri Striking close, sealing yourself off, then finishing him. Spitfire travels in a line, so you can use Suri Strike to dodge it if you are quick. Avoid stepping in Goop, and instead Suri Strike over or out of it. When Skaarf starts channeling Dragon Breath, you can stun him by aiming a cluster ult on him before it activates. If he gets his ult off, use Target Lock to run little rings around him to minimise the damage the flames do to you and your team. Aim to close out the game quickly as Skaarf scales better than you into the late game.

Skye

Skye

Neutral in every respect. This all comes down to skill. Consider getting into character by building your own weaponized mech and constantly making references to Top Gun. Position so that you are landing your Barrage without taking any damage yourself. Use Suri Strike to dash out if you are caught in a Barrage, but expect that the enemy Skye will do the same. Use your Death from Above wisely to reduce the amount of space Skye has to maneuver in. Build shield if necessary, and consider prioritizing boots so you will be faster than the enemy Skye. Frostburn is key here since Skye is so dependent on mobility.

Taka

Taka

“It’s time for you to panic.”
-Broken Box Fox

A terrible matchup for Skye. Taka is a hard counter to Skye and all three of his abilities can help him dodge out Forward Barrage since one gives him a speed boost and the other two take him behind Skye. Taka is so annoyingly mobile, it is difficult to land anything on him. Counterplay includes giving up and complaining about how Taka should be nerfed. This is especially effective if you insinuate that Taka takes no skill to play.

Generally if your opponent drafts a Taka you should just pick another hero or play Skye as WP instead, but if you are playing against a Taka as CP Skye, you should try to win fights early before Taka unlocks X-Retsu. Carry Flares with you or use Forward Barrage to de-stealth Taka when he goes invisible. If Taka is about to Kaiten, you can aim your Death from Above behind you to try to stun him when he lands. Additionally, if you are Forward Barraging and he Kaitens or X-Retsus behind you, you can hit your boots, and the speed boost will take you far back enough that you will hit him again.

Consider building into a Slumbering Husk if he is going CP. When fighting, stay near your teammates, especially your support. While Taka thrives on killing isolated squishies, he may be more reluctant to jump into an entire team, and your other teammates may be better equipped to deal with him than you are. Honestly though, unless the Taka is severely underperforming or you are some kind of outplay god, you will usually lose this matchup.

Difficulty:+5WP/5

Vox

Vox

A difficult matchup. Sonic Zoom allows Vox to continually dodge out of Forward Barrage due to its low cooldown, and Vox can dismantle Skye if he get near. When playing against Vox, the only advantage you have is your range on Forward Barrage. Vox’s autoattack range is very short, so you can dip near him to get a Target Lock without getting killed, then kite him from a distance. Be ready to run for it if he starts to get near enough to attack you. You can somewhat limit his options using Death from Above but mostly you shouldn’t try to take him in a straight up fight unless necessary. Poke instead. Vox has a weak early game, so you should gank lane often and try to starve him for gold. Build into a Metal Jacket.

You will fare much better against CP Vox since he isn’t so great at 1v1s. Stay away from your teammates to avoid getting killed by bounces and get a Reflex Block to block Wait for It, which can be quite painful on CP.

Use Forward Barrage to deal damage. Always have a Target Lock on the person you are Forward Barraging if you are in range to get one.

Use Suri Strike to reposition and reset your Forward Barrage. You can also use it to dodge.

Use Death from Above as a line if you want to block pursuit or escape and as a cluster if you want to try for a stun or block choke points. You can aim a line ult at the back line while having a Target Lock on the front line to try for a surprise stun.

Max Forward Barrage first and Suri Strike second. This gives you the most damage.

In fights try to find the squishiest target you can find, Suri Strike near them and burst them with Forward Barrage. If you will get pounded into the ground 1v1 or the enemy is blocking you can stay back and poke and build Myth stacks.
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Aaaaaand we’re done!

Thank you so much if you took the time to read this. I hope I was able to help you learn some new things about Skye. I hope to update this guide in the future with further details and maybe some play-by-play analysis, but this will have to do for now.

Offensive is when you counter the enemy team.
Defensive is a safer build, allowing you counter your counters to an extent. (Note: Mr. Slice and dice is probably the hardest assassin to counter.)

For offense, I recommend pure damage such as SG SF BM FB (no order)

For defensive, SF Eve BM X ( in order)

Enemies should not be building aegis by the time you get a second item. You have a better acceleration of farming with more damage.

SF Eve is an powerful combo that allows your to cripple enemy sustain while giving you massive healing. This is the core against getting countered. You can out gun and sustain assassins this way (except taka)

Offensive build is really for quick deletions. If you counter your enemies, you can increase their suffering. Note: you have to find an energy source.

FB: personally? So find FB stats lacking, but it’s team utility can be useful. It’s a choice that usually benefits hit and run senarios. Pure damage is better ate carrying the team.

Use FB as X in defensive build for more Utilty.

Note: both paths do amazing damage, but vary depending on circumstances.

Item thoughts:

-BM should be 3rd item or 2nd maybe,
-Max out A and B to make CW redundant.
-AS and AC are not useful for Skye

Other thoughts:
Jungle is better for Skye. It’s safer and easier for skyento pick up kills early jungling.

I lost a whole elo tier trying to master Skye, i had avoided her because of the high skill requirement (hardest hero in the game imo) but I glad I did, she’s tremendous fun to play.

Think the guide is outdated, but is agree BM isn’t a core item IMO (situational); given the recent changes to SF I believe it’s a core item, her low cooldown enables her to land this consistently and against sustain hero’s (kruls) it’s vital. Agree re AS/AC but feel the rest of the CP path have merits based on team comps etc.

Quick question do her abilites trigger SF to more than one enemy? What I mean by this is does Forward barrage trigger this if it lands on a group of enemies? Not played much Skye in 5v5 (struggled to adapt with her) so unsure of the answer. If the answers yes then it’s even more of a necessity.